


Unfair Play

by Shadowmatic



Series: Like Blood on Snow [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Afghanistan, Captain Gareth (OC) (mentioned), Howard Burns (OC), Marisa de Soya (OC) - Freeform, Multi, Nina Osbeck (OC) - Freeform, POV Third Person, Soccer, The Four Horsemen (Mentioned), War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 08:28:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19330840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowmatic/pseuds/Shadowmatic
Summary: In general, weapons probably shouldn’t be allowed on the playing field.





	Unfair Play

It was almost odd, how Nina never really thought of them anymore, but then again, it really wasn’t. There was so much to do, so many things, and there were worse sorrows to hold than the fact that her datemates had thought that she wasn’t even worth a goodbye. 

It really was a beautiful country, no matter what the media portrayed it as. Nina loved it more than she could say, and her comrades probably thought that she was crazy for that. 

“Got any family back home?” Marisa asked her, as she sent another kid running back to his mother. Nina was helping the medic check over the kids in the little village they were patrolling through, and she had no idea where the question had come from. 

“Not really.” Nina said, shifting slightly. She looked away from her friend, out at where the rest of the platoon was engaged in a game of soccer with the local kids. 

“Ah.” Marisa said. She sounded a bit wrong footed, which sort of made sense, given Nina’s response, and then she deflected from whatever her original thought had been. “Did you know that Santiago is married?” Nina looked back at Marisa, her face crinkled in confusion. She hadn’t been prepared to fall for the deflection, but that really came out of left field. 

“What really?” She asked, totally incredulous. It wasn’t that she couldn’t believe that Santiago would be the type to settle down, it was that he was loud, and a bit abrasive, and wasn’t someone that Nina could really see in a relationship with a woman. 

“Yeah, I’ve met him.” Marisa said. “He’s a nice man, quieter than you would expect Santiago’s type to be.” 

“That makes a lot more sense.” Nina said, picking Santiago out in the crowd. It wasn’t hard. He was the loud Filipino, and it wouldn’t do well to forget that, not that you could, because he mentioned it every other day. He wasn’t really a small man either. Marisa laughed. 

“You were picturing him with a woman, weren’t you?” 

“I really shouldn’t have, not given the nonsense that he gets up to.” Santiago flirted with every man in their company, including their commander, Captain David Gareth, and he was always sure to threaten to kiss them. Nina was glad that she knew that he would never try anything with her, or else she would’t have been able to enjoy being around him. It helped that they all knew he was joking.

“No, you really shouldn’t have. That’s all of them, by the way.” She said, referring to the medical checks that they had been doing for the Afghans. She had already packed up her kit while Nina was distracted. 

Nina looked back over at the soccer game, and the image that came to her mind as she watched them was so funny that she actually laughed aloud. 

“What’s so funny?” Marisa asked, giving Nina a confused smile. 

“I just pictured the guys as a professional soccer team.” Nina said, still giggling. “But instead of soccer uniforms, they just go on the pitch in their CADPat, rifles and all.” Marisa burst out laughing, and Nina couldn’t help but laugh with her. 

A moment later, Burns, who neither woman had heard approach, joined them in their laughter. 

“That’s one way to win.” He said, around his chuckles. “Just scare the other team off of the pitch.” 

“Well that tactic isn’t working here.” Marisa said, gesturing at the ongoing game. Nina was pretty sure the locals, because now some of the adults had joined the game as well, were winning. 

“That’s rather unfortunate.” Burns said. “Because they suck at soccer.” 

It didn’t take very long for the local kids to decide that they had won, and there was lots of cheering and shouting. 

Eventually, they managed to get everyone rounded up, though no one really wanted to leave, and they set off to finish their patrol. 


End file.
